Scott is fully licensed in Wirsbo, Heat-Link, Ipex and Burnham on the design, installation and service of in-floor warming and snow melt systems. We have a specialized team to meet any and all of your needs whether it be your home, your garage, on your patio or in your work place we can design a system to meet your needs.

What you need to know about Hydronic Radiant Floor Heating:
Excerpts from CMHC's About Your House Fact Sheets: Download the full fact sheet by clicking here.

Long ago, the Romans used radiant floor heating in their bathhouses. For centuries, the Koreans heated their royal palaces and traditional homes in this manner. Today, radiant heating technology has been improved and can be used in all or part of our homes.

What is radiant floor heating?

Radiant floor heating is a method of heating your home by applying heat underneath or within the floor. Comparable to warming yourself in the sun, this type of heating warms objects as opposed to raising the temperature of the air.

There are three types of radiant floor heating: hydronic, electric and air. This About Your House document focuses on hydronic (water) radiant floor heating.

Brought to North America post World War II, the first generation of North American systems met with several mechanical failures. The introduction of carpeted floors reduced the system efficiency. Today, significant improvements have been made in both the heating component and the system design.

Hydronic radiant floor heating is a system of plastic or metal tubes/pipes laid within a floor that carries hot water into specific rooms or “zones,” dispersing the heat through the floor surface (see Figure 1 - Hydronic radiant floor heating tubing laid out in specific heating pattern prior to concrete pour. Photo courtesy of Ready Mixed Concrete Association of Ontario.).

The cooler water returns to the heat source where it is reheated and sent out again in what is known as a “closed-loop system.”The pipes can be encased in a concrete slab, a concrete or gypsum cement overpour, laid into thin grooved panels that nail on top of a subfloor, or suspended below a wooden subfloor using metal fins fastened under the floor surface (see Figure 2 - Figure 2. Suspended in subfloor. Image courtesy of Wirsbo Co.).The heat output is determined by pipe spacing, water temperature, flow rate and floor covering.The heat output must be calculated to meet the heat loss demands of the home.

To find more About Your House fact sheets plus a wide variety of information products, visit CMHC online at: www.cmhc.ca